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In Memoriam: Dennis O'connor

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In Memoriam: Dennis O'connor AI Magazine Volume 13 Number 2 (1992) (© AAAI) n IN MEMORIAM AAAI AAAI Officials President Patrick Hayes, Stanford University President-elect Barbara Grosz, Harvard University Put President Daniel G Bobrow, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Dennis O’Connor Secretary-Treasurer 1938-1992 Bruce Buchanan, University of Pittsburgh %mcilors (through 1992) Kenneth D Forbus, Northwestern University Howard Shrobe, SymbolicslMIT William swartout, USC-IS1 J Martin Tenenbaum, EITech Dennis O’Connor, a close personal friend %mcilors (through 1993) and associate, passed away on February 4, Mark Fox, University of Toronto Barbara Hayes-Roth, Stanford University 1992, after a brief illness. Dennis was best Thomas Dietterich, Oregon State University known to the AI community for his leader- Richard Fikes, Stanford University ship in the pioneering work that led to the ,ouncilors (through 1994) Jaime CarbonelI, Carnegie Mellon University development and successful deployment of XCON and many other Paul Cohen, University of Massachusetts expert systems. Elaine Kant, Schlumberger Candy Sidner, Digital Equipment Corporation Dennis O’Connor was one of Digital’s first 400 employees and played a significant role in the growth of the company over the last 30 years. Standing Committees During his 30-year career with Digital, Dennis O’Connor held senior ConferenceChair: William Swattout, USC-IS1 managerial positions in engineering and manufacturing, and most %mce Chair Bruce Buchanan, Univ. of Pittsburgh %blications Chair Mark Fox, University of Toronto recently, he was a member of the Corporate Information Management icholarship Chair: Barbara Hayes-Roth, Stanford Univ. and Technology staff. iymposium Chair: Peter Pat&Schneider, AT&T Bell Laboratories In the early days of Digital’s history, Dennis was involved in the iymposium Cochair: James Hendler, University of design of the innovative PDP series of processors. Later, he became a Maryland iymposim AssociateChair: Paul Cohen, Univ. of Mass member of the manufacturing staff and was the worldwide director of WorkshopGrants Chair: Geoffrey Hinton, University manufacturing technology. In July 1979, Dennis launched the pioneer- of Toronto WorkshopGrants Cochair: Candy Sidner, Digital ing AI effort around configuring Digital’s VAX computer systems in col- Equipment Corporation laboration with John McDermott and Carnegie Mellon University. This 41in Medicine SubgroupLiaison: Gordon Banks, effort led to the development of the world’s first industrial AI application University of Pittsburgh 21in ManufacturingSubgroup Liaison: Karl Kempf, Intel and significantly influenced the field by spawning numerous other U and the Law SubgroupLiaison: Edwina F&land, expert systems both at Digital and at other companies around the world. University of Massachusetts 41and BusinessSubgroup Liaison: Dan O’Leary, Dennis was the founder and director of Digital’s Artificial Intelligence University of Southern California Technology Center and Digital’s Knowledge-Based Applications and Ser- vices business unit. He was a member of the Strategy Planning Board of The AAAI Press MIT PressColiaisons the Concurrent Engineering Research Center at West Virginia Universi- Robert Prior, Teresa Ehling ty, a leading organization in the development of an enterprise integra- Editor-in-chief William Clancey, Institute for Research on Leaning tion framework sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects ;enml Manager Agency. He was also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the David Mike Hamilton, The Live Oak Press Spang-Robinson Report on Artificial Intelligence. bfanagonmt Board William Clancey, Institute for Research on Learning Dennis was recently recognized by the American Association for Arti- David Mike Hamilton, The Live Oak Press Robert Prior, Teresa Ehling, The MIT Press ficial Intelligence with the first-ever annual Outstanding Contribution Reid Smith, Schlumberger Award for Innovative Artificial Intelligence Applications. The American !ditorial Board Ken Forbus, Northwestern University Association for Artificial Intelligence bestowed this award on Dennis for Tom Dietterich, Oregon State University his “sustained contribution to the practical implementation of AI, being Scott Fahlman, Carnegie Mellon University Jean-Claude Latombe, Stanford University a champion of AI within a corporate setting, successful applications of John McDermott, Digital Equipment Corporation AI technology over time, and significant volunteer work in the field.” Judea Pearl, University of California, Los Angeles Reid Smith, Schlumberger Dennis O’Connor was instrumental in the development of visionary Yoav Shoham, Stanford University Howard Shrobe, Symbolics business alliances between Digital, universities, and other industrial cor- J Martin Tenenbaum, EITech porations. Dennis led Digital’s involvement with MIT, Carnegie-Mellon, Bonnie Webber, University of Pennsylvania and the Carnegie Group and with the Initiative for Managing Knowl- edge Assets in partnership with Ford, US West, Texas Instruments, and The AAAI Staff ExecutiveDirector: Carol McKenna Hamilton the Carnegie Group. Accountant: Julia G Bowen Membership and SystemsCoordinator: Richard A. Many of us were fortunate to know him over the years and share his Skalsky friendship. We will always remember his vision, his strong belief in the ConferenceCoordinator: Annette El&edge ConfmnceiTnzde Show Coordinator Mary Livingston human potential, and his deep respect for people. Administrative: Hasina A&, Daphne Black, Sally McLaughlin, Arthur Okorie, and Godwin Okorie Raj Reddy Carnegie Mellon University AAAI Corporate Sponsors Digital Equipment Corporation General Motors Research Laboratory 8 AI MAGAZINE .
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